Democrat Robert Massie returns to politics to vie for Scott Brown's Senate seat

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanSomerville Democrat Robert Massie appears at an editorial board meeting of The Republican in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD – After a lengthy recovery from a 2009 liver transplant and enjoying better health than he had during a largely ailing life, Robert Massie felt ripe for a fresh opportunity.

“I thought, OK, I’m really feeling great now. What do I do? Then Scott P. Brown won,” said Massie, a Somerville Democrat competing to face the Republican U.S. senator of the runaway 2010 victory in the 2012 general election.

Massie, 54, is among eight Democrats who have publicly announced their intentions to run for the seat long held by late U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy. They include a state representative from Wayland, the Mayor of Newton and social entrepreneur Alan Khazei, who ran unsuccessfully for Kennedy’s seat during the special election in which Brown prevailed.

Based on the numbers, it is obvious Democrats hope to wrest what they believe is their rightful seat back from the GOP.

Massie, a graduate of Princeton University, Yale Divinity School and Harvard Business School and the son of two authors including a Pulitzer-prize winning biographer, seems the anti-Scott Brown.

An ordained Episcopalian minister, Massie was born with hemophilia, a bleeding disorder, later developed hepatitis C and was infected with HIV during a blood transfusion 32 years ago. He never developed the AIDS virus and is considered something of a medical phenomenon; his case has been widely studied.

Massie, in1994, won the statewide candidacy for lieutenant governor, but lost to former Republican Gov. William F. Weld and running mate A. Paul Cellucci.

During his long hiatus from political life, Massie was Executive Director of Ceres, a network of environmental groups and investors. He also co-founded the Global Reporting Initiative, an initiative to encourage global corporations to self-report their social, economic and environmental performance. Raised in Irvington, NY, he moved to Massachusetts for graduate school in the mid-1980s.

Of the recent debt crisis, Massie joined most Americans in denouncing the government’s handling of the problem.

“To hold the whole economy hostage for a particular ideological view .¤.¤. the nature of the deficit. It’s unthinkable,” Massie said, offering up a phrase he has used on the campaign trail: “Stop the stupid stuff.”

Of Brown’s reputation as being a relative bipartisan – including in his public statements about the economic crisis – Massie characterized the senator as a follower, not a promoter of compromise.

“I have referred to (Brown) as the caboose of the Senate. He sort of sees where the track is going,” Massie said. “I don’t think Scott Brown has any strong opinions about anything.”